Ringing in the New Year by fi ghting climate change
BY KYLE VUILLE
Last year was a big year for the climate
change discussion around world,
but a new generation are expecting
their science teachers and their teachings
to create a greener future.
No better way to enter 2020 and
honor those science teachers than
have them hit the crystal button that
would drop the Times Square New
Years ball.
Bronx Latin School science teacher
Aida Rosenbaum, recent recipient of
the 11th annual Sloan Award for Excellence
in Teaching Science and Mathematics,
was one of two NYC teachers
to win the award and have the chance
to share hitting the prestigious button
with a select few students.
“It was absolutely surreal, still feels
like it didn’t happen,” Rosenbaum
said. “I received the Sloan award and
a couple days later I got the call from
the Times Square Alliance asking me
to push the button.”
Rosenbaum along with two of her
students, 17-year-old juniors, Ven Ulloa
and Daniel Soto, were invited for the
work and advocacy done in the fi ght
against climate change. She added it
was extremely tough to pick only two
students out of her current 65 who
have all contributed in the cause.
Both students said the ball drop
was a once in a lifetime experience
that they would never forget.
All the honorees stand behind the button for the New Year’s Eve 2020 ball drop in Times Square last week. The honorees were commended
for their advocacy in the fi ght against climate change. Photo courtesy of Aida Rosenbaum
“It was amazing, I’ve never experienced
anything like that, it was humbling,”
Ulloa said.
Rosenbaum and her students participated
in the Walk for Water as well
as attended the recent worldwide Climate
March.
What really Rosenbaum and her
students care about is the community
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they and their families live in.
Rosenbaum spoke of the extensive
work of students in the school garden
as well as the community garden.
“We are improving air quality
and the quality of life in Morrisania,”
Rosenbaum said.
Rosenbaum’s motivation and commitment
to her students and environmental
science started with her own
schooling in Washington Heights some
30 years ago.
She spoke up having one particular
math teacher who helped in her studies
in order for young Rosenbaum to
go to a specialized math and science
school.
Rosenbaum spent her collegiate
years (undergraduate and graduate)
studying environmental science only
to realize a big chuck of the population
did not understand the effects of climate
change.
“I found out a lot of people in power
didn’t have the proper knowledge on
climate issues,” Rosenbaum said.
After changing her career path
over to education, she knew she would
return to the people who needed her
most, the children of NYC.
“I wanted to return with the expertise
and knowledge I had, like the opposite
of brain drain, and bring it back
to the community,” Rosenbaum said.
“It’s my passion, what I was meant to
do.”
Ulloa and Soto both underlined
Rosenbaum’s teachings of activism
and its importance to the fi ght against
climate change.
“She taught me activism, interconnectedness,
and being sociable to
further pursue our goals and how to be
a sustainable person,” Soto said.
Looking to the future and continuing
the fi ght against climate change,
Rosenbaum intends to have her students
get even more involved in the
community they live in.
First and foremost, the teacher
(Left to Right): Ven Ulloa, Aida Rosenbaum
and Daniel Soto. Rosenbaum and her two
students were honored at the Times Square
2020 ball drop for their work against climate
change.
Photo courtesy of Aida Rosenbaum
plans on incorporating more citizen
action among her students.
“I want them to actually implement
something instead of studying something
just for the sake of studying it,”
Rosenbaum said.
Another future goal of Rosenbaum’s
is having her students talk to
their parents, relatives, and neighbors
who live in the neighborhood about the
2020 census.
She said, even though people may
be intimidated of answering this
year’s questions, she fi nds it critical
for people who live in the community
to be apart of the census to plan accordingly
for climate resiliency.
Rosenbaum plans to take her students
to a climate change summit in
the spring to meet with other students
who share the same passion and move
forward fi ghting climate change.